CHAPTER XIV.Plants and the Planets.Twocenturies ago there existed a very general belief that every plant was under the direct influence of a particular Planet, and therefore that all the details connected with its cultivation and utilisation were to be conducted with a strict regard to this supposition. Aubrey has recorded his opinion, that if a plant “be not gathered according to the rules of astrology, it hath little or no virtue in it;” and the Jesuit Rapin, in his Latin poem on ‘Gardens,’ says, with respect to flowers—“This frequent charge I give, whene’er you sowThe flow’ry kind, be studious first to knowThe monthly tables, and with heedful eyeSurvey the lofty volumes of the sky;Observe the tokens of foreboding Stars,What store of wind and rain the Moon prepares;What weather Eurus or moist Auster blows,What both in east and west the Sun foreshows;What aid from Helice the trees obtain,What from Boötes with his tardy wain;Whether the wat’ry Pleiades with show’rsKindly refresh alone, or drown the flow’rs;For Stars neglected fatal oft we find,The Gods to their dominion have assign’dThe products of our earth and labours of mankind.”Michael Drayton, in whose time the doctrine of planetary influence on plants was generally accepted, says, in reference to the longevity of antediluvian men:—“Besides, in medicine simples had the powerThat none need then the planetary hourTo helpe their working, they so juiceful were.”Culpeper, who was a profound believer in astrology, has given at the commencement of his ‘British Herbal and Family Physician,’ a list of some five hundred plants, and the names of the Planets which govern them; and in his directions as to the plucking of leaves for medical purposes, the old herbalist andphysician remarks:—“Such as are astrologers (and indeed none else are fit to make physicians) such I advise: let the planet that governs the herb be angular, and the stronger the better; if they can, in herbs of Saturn, let Saturn be in the ascendant; in the herb of Mars, let Mars be in the mid-heaven, for in those houses they delight; let the Moon apply to them by good aspect, and let her not be in the houses of her enemies; if you cannot well stay till she apply to them, let her apply to a Planet of the same triplicity; if you cannot meet that time neither, let her be with a fixed Star of their nature.”The classification of Plants under the planets Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Sun, and the Moon, appears to have been made according to the Signatures or outward appearances of the plants themselves. The stalks, stems, branches, roots, foliage, flowers, odour, taste, native places, death, and medical virtues, were also considered; and, according to the character of the plant thus deduced, it was placed under the government of the particular Planet with which it was considered to be most in consonance.Plants allotted toSaturnhad theirLeaves: hairy, hard, dry, parched, coarse, and of ill-favoured appearance.Flowers: Unprepossessing, gloomy, dull, greenish, faded or dirty white, pale red, invariably hirsute, prickly, and disagreeable.Roots: Spreading widely in the earth and rambling around in discursive fashion.Odour: Fœtid, putrid, muddy.Jupiter.—Leaves: Smooth, even, slightly cut and pointed, the veins not prominent, and the lines not strongly marked. Colour, greyish blue-green.Flowers: Graceful, pleasing, bright, succulent, transparent, ruddy, flesh-colour, blue, yellow.Roots: Rather small, with short hairy filaments, spread about in the ground.Odour: Highly subtle, grateful to the brain; the kernels comforting; easily fermented.Mars.—Leaves: Hard, long, somewhat heavy, pointed and pendulous, harsh and hot to the tongue, not of good appearance.Flowers: Of a colour between yellow, vermilion, or blue, green, purple, red, changing quickly, abundance of flowers and seeds.Roots: Highly fibrous and creeping underground.Odour: Oppressive to the brain, potent, sharp, acrid.Venus.—Leaves: Large, handsome, bright, rich green or roseate, soft, plentiful.Flowers: Pleasing to the eyes, white, blue, rosy, charming, fine, abundant.Roots: Of early growth, but not deeply fixed. Quickly and freely produced.Odour: Subtle, delightful, pungent, refreshing to the brain.Mercury.—Leaves: Different kinds, but pleasing to the eye.Flowers: Of various descriptions and colours, refreshing, agreeable, and pleasant.Roots: Abiding deep in the earth, and spreading far and wide.Odour: Highly subtle and penetrating, refreshing to the heart and brain.The Sun.—Leaves: Succulent, with stout stalks, deeply veined, pleasant green or tawny, with reddish stalks.Flowers: Yellow and gold, or purple, handsome, glittering, and radiant.Roots: Strong, deeply fixed in the earth, but not laterally.Odour: Agreeable, acceptable, and pungent, strong, restorative to brain and eyes.The Moon.—Leaves: Pale, highly succulent, pith thick, firm, strongly-developed veins, bottle-green.Flowers: Pale yellow or greenish, watery, mellifluous, but uninteresting and without beauty.Roots: Penetrating easily through water and earth, not durable, and easily decayed, spreading neither thickly nor deeply.Odour: Disagreeable, almost none, without pungency, redolent of the earth, rain, or soft savour of honey.According to Indian mythology, herbs are placed under the special protection of Mitra, the Sun. De Gubernatis tells us that there are several Indian plants named after the great luminary. In the Grecian Pantheon, the Solar-god, Apollo, possessed a knowledge of all the herbs. It was to Phœbus, the Sun-god, that poor Clytie lost her heart, and, when changed into a flower, held firmly by the root, she still turned to the Sun she loved, “and, changed herself, still kept her love unchanged.” As to the particular Sunflower, Turnsole, Heliotrope, or Solsequium that is the floral embodiment of the love-sick nymph, readers must be referred to the disquisition under the heading “Sunflower.” De Gubernatis gives it as his opinion, that Clytie’s flower is theHelianthemum roseumof De Candolle. In a previous chapter, certain plants have been noticed which were supposed by the ancients to have been specially under the domination of the Sun and Moon. According to the dictum of wizards and wise folk, plants possessing magical properties must as a general rule be gathered, if not by moonlight, yet at any rate before sunrise, for the first appearance of the Sun’s rays immediately dispels all enchantment, and drives back the spirits to their subterranean abodes.We are told in Deuteronomy xxxiii., 14, that precious things are put forth by the Moon, but precious fruits by the Sun; and it is certainly very remarkable that, although mankind in all ages have regarded, and even worshipped, the Sun as being the supreme and ruling luminary, from whose glorious life-giving rays, vegetation of all kinds drew its very existence, yet that an idea should have sprung up, and taken root widely and deeply, that the growth and decay of plants were associated intimately with the waxing and waning of the Moon. We have seen how the plant kingdom was parcelled out by the astrologers, and consigned to the care of different Planets; but, despite this, the Moon was held to have a singular and predominant influence over vegetation, and it was supposed that there existed a sympathy between growing and declining nature and the Moon’s wax and wane. Bacon seems to have considered that even the “braine of man waxeth moister and fuller upon the Full of the Moone;” and, therefore, he continues,“it were good for those that have moist braines, and are great drinkers, to take fume of Lignum, Aloes, Rose-Mary, Frankincense, &c., about the Full of the Moone.” He also tells us, in his Natural History, that “the influences of the Moon are four: the drawing forth of heat, the inducing of putrefaction, the moisture, and the exciting of the motions of spirits.”In respect to this last influence, he goes on to say, “You must note that the growth of hedges, herbs, haire, &c., is caused from the Moone, by exciting of the spirits as well as by increase of the moisture. But for spirits in particular the great instance is lunacies.” This lunar influence which Bacon speaks of was, as already pointed out, fully recognised in olden times, and a belief was even current that the Moon specially watched over vegetation, and that when she was propitious—that is, during her growth—she produced medicinal herbs; when she was not propitious—that is to say, during her wane—she imbued herbs with poisons; her humidity being, perhaps, more injurious than otherwise.In old almanacks we find the supremacy of the Moon over the plant kingdom fully admitted, albeit in a jargon which is rather puzzling. Thus, in the ‘Husbandman’s Practice or Prognostication for Ever,’ the reader is advised “to set, sow seeds, graft, and plant, the Moone being in Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorne, and all kinds of Corne in Cancer, to graft in March, at the Moone’s increase, she being in Taurus or Capricorne.” Again, in Mr. Wing’s Almanack for 1661, occurs the following passage:—“It is a common observation in astrology, and confirmed by experience, that what Corn or tree soever are set or sown when the Sun or Moon is eclipsed, and the infortunate planets predominate, seldom or never come to good. And again he saith thus:—It is a common and certain observation also, that if any corn, seed, or plant be either set or sown within six hours either before or after the full Moon in Summer, or before or after the new Moon in Winter, having joined with the cosmical rising of Arcturus and Orion, the Hædi and the Siculi, it is subject to blasting and canker.”As an illustration of the predominance given to the Moon over the other planets in matters pertaining to plant culture, it is worth noticing that, although Culpeper, in his ‘Herbal,’ places the Apple under Venus, yet the Devonshire farmers have from time immemorial made it a rule to gather their Apples for storing at the wane of the Moon; the reason being that, during the Moon’s increase, it is thought that the Apples are full, and will not therefore keep. It is said that if timber be felled when the Moon is on the increase, it will decay; and that it should always be cut when the Moon is on the wane. No reason can be assigned for this; yet the belief is common in many countries, and what is still more strange, professional woodcutters, whose occupation is to fell timber, aver, as the actual result of their observation, that the belief is well founded. It was formerly interwoven in the Forest Codeof France, and, unless expunged by recent alterations, is so still. The same opinion obtains in the German forests, and is said to be held in those of Brazil and Yucatan. The theory given to account for this supposed fact is, that as the Moon grows, the sap rises, and the wood is therefore less dense than when the Moon is waning, because at that time the sap declines. The belief in the Moon’s influence as regards timber extends to vegetables, and was at one time universal in England, although, at the present day, the theory is less generally entertained in our country than abroad, where they act upon the maxim that root crops should be planted when the Moon is decreasing, and plants such as Beans, Peas, and others, which bear the crops on their branches, between new and full Moon. Throughout Germany, the rule is that Rye should be sown as the Moon waxes; but Barley, Wheat, and Peas, when it wanes.The wax and wane of the belief in lunar influence on plant-life among our own countrymen may be readily traced by reference to old books on husbandry and gardening.In ‘The Boke of Husbandry,’ by Mayster Fitzherbarde, published in 1523, we read with respect to the sowing of Peas, that “moste generally to begyn sone after Candelmasse is good season, so that they be sowen ere the begynnynge of Marche, or sone upon. And specially let them be sowen in the olde of the Mone. For the opinion of old husbandes is, that they shoulde be better codde, and sooner be rype.”Tusser, in his ‘Five Hundred Points of Husbandry,’ published in 1562, says, in his quaint verse—“Sowe Peason and Beans in the wane of the Moone,Who soweth them sooner, he soweth too soone;That they with the planet may rest and rise,And flourish with bearing, most plentiful wise.”Commenting on that “Point,” the editor of an edition of Tusser’s poem printed in 1744, says: “It must be granted the Moon is an excellent clock, and if not the cause of many surprising accidents, gives a just indication of them, whereof this Pease and Beans may be one instance; for Pease and Beans sown during the increase do run more to hawm or straw, and during the declension more to cod, according to the common consent of countrymen.” Again, as regards grafting, old Tusser writes:—“In March is good graffing, the skilful do know,So long as the wind in the East do not blow,From Moone being changed, til past be the prime,For graffing and cropping is very good time.”The editor remarks: “The Prime is the first three days after the New Moon, in which time, or at farthest during the first quarter, our author confines his graffing, probably because thefirst three days are usually attended with rain.” He confesses, however, he cannot explain the following couplet:—“The Moone in the wane gather fruit for to last,But winter fruit gather when Michel is past.”In the ‘Garden of Eden,’ an old gardening book compiled and issued by Sir Hugh Plat, Knt., in the year 1600, constant allusions are made to the necessity of studying the Moon’s phases in gardening and grafting operations. The worthy knight considered that the Moon would exercise her powers in making single flowers double if only she were respectfully courted. His counsel on this point is as follows:—“Remove a plant of Stock Gilliflowers when it is a little woodded, and not too greene, and water it presently. Doe this three dayes after the full, and remove it twice more before the change. Doe this in barren ground; and likewise, three dayes after the next full Moone, remove again; and then remove once more before the change. Then at the third full Moon, viz., eight dayes after, remove againe, and set it in very rich ground, and this will make it to bring forth a double flower; but if your Stock Gilliflowers once spindle, then you may not remove them. Also you must make Tulippes double in this manner. Some think by cutting them at every full Moone before they beare to make them at length to beare double.”In ‘The Countryman’s Recreation’ (1640) the author fully recognises the obligation of gardeners to study the Moon in all their principal operations. Says he: “From the first day of the new Moone unto the xiii. day thereof is good for to plant, or graffe, or sow, and for great need some doe take unto the xvii. or xviii. day thereof, and not after, neither graffe nor sow, but as is afore-mentioned, a day or two afore the change, the best signes are Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorne.” And as regards the treatment of fruit trees, he tells us that “trees which come of Nuttes” should be set in the Autumn “in the change or increase of the Moone;” certain grafting manipulations are to be executed “in the increase of the Moone and not lightly after;” fruit, if it is desired of good colour and untouched by frost, ought to be gathered “when the time is faire and dry, and the Moone in her decreasing;” whilst “if ye will cut or gather Grapes, to have them good, and to have good wine thereof, ye shall cut them in the full, or soone after the full, of the Moone, when she is in Cancer, in Leo, in Scorpio, and in Aquarius, the Moone being on the waine and under the earth.”In ‘The Expert Gardener’ (1640)—a work stated to be “faithfully collected out of sundry Dutch and French authors”—a chapter is entirely devoted to the times and seasons which should be selected “to sow and replant all manner of seeds,” with special reference to the phases of the Moon. As showing how verygeneral must have been the belief in the influence of the Moon on vegetation at that time, the following extract is given:—A short Instruction very profitable and necessary for all those that delight in Gardening, to know the Times and Seasons when it is good to sow and replant all manner of Seeds.Cabbages must be sowne in February, March, or April, at the waning of the Moone, and replanted also in the decrease thereof.Cabbage Lettuce, in February, March, or July, in an old Moone.Onions and Leeks must be sowne in February or March, at the waning of the Moone.Beets must be sowne in February or March, in a full Moone.Coleworts white and greene in February, or March, in an old Moone, it is good to replant them.Parsneps must be sowne in February, April, or June, also in an old Moone.Radish must be sowne in February, March, or June, in a new Moone.Pompions must be sowne in February, March, or June, also in a new Moone.Cucumbers and Mellons must be sowne in February, March, or June, in an old Moone.Spinage must be sowne in February or March, in an old Moone.Parsley must be sowne in February or March, in a full Moone.Fennel and Annisseed must be sowne in February or March, in a full Moone.White Cycory must be sowne in February, March, July, or August, in a full Moone.Carduus Benedictus must be sowne in February, March, or May, when the Moone is old.Basil must be sowne in March, when the Moone is old.Purslane must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone.Margeram, Violets, and Time must be sowne in February, March, or April, in a new Moone.Floure-gentle, Rosemary, and Lavender, must be sowne in February or April, in a new Moone.Rocket and Garden Cresses must be sowne in February, in a new Moone.Savell must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone.Saffron must be sowne in March, when the Moone is old.Coriander and Borage must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone.Hartshorne and Samphire must be sowne in February, March, or April, when the Moone is old.Gilly-floures, Harts-ease, and Wall-floures, must be sowne in March or April, when the Moone is old.Cardons and Artochokes must be sowne in April or March, when the Moone is old.Chickweed must be sowne inFebruary or March, in the full of the Moone.Burnet must be sowne in February or March, when the Moone is old.Double Marigolds must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone.Isop and Savorie must be sowne in March when the Moone is old.White Poppey must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone.Palma Christi must be sowne in February, in a new Moone.Sparages and Sperage is to be sowne in February, when the Moone is old.Larks-foot must be sowne in February, when the Moone is old.Note that at all times and seasons, Lettuce, Raddish, Spinage and Parsneps may be sowne.Note, also, from cold are to be kept Coleworts, Cabbage, Lettuce, Basill, Cardons, Artochokes, and Colefloures.In ‘The English Gardener’ (1683) and ‘The Dutch Gardener’ (1703) many instructions are given as to the manner of treatingplants with special regard to the phases of the Moon; and Rapin, in his poem on Gardens, has the following lines:—“If you with flow’rs would stock the pregnant earth,Mark well the Moon propitious to their birth:For earth the silent midnight queen obeys,And waits her course, who, clad in silver rays,Th’ eternal round of times and seasons guides,Controls the air, and o’er the winds presides.Four days expir’d you have your time to sow,Till to the full th’ increasing Moon shall grow;This past, your labour you in vain bestow:Nor let the gard’ner dare to plant a flow’rWhile on his work the heav’ns ill-boding low’r;When Moons forbid, forbidding Moons obey,And hasten when the Stars inviting beams display.”John Evelyn, in his ‘Sylva, or a Discourse on Forest Trees,’ first published in 1662, remarks on the attention paid by woodmen to the Moon’s influence on trees. He says: “Then for the age of the Moon, it has religiously been observed; and that Diana’s presidencyin sylviswas not so much celebrated to credit the fictions of the poets, as for the dominion of that moist planet and her influence over timber. For my part, I am not so much inclined to these criticisms, that I should altogether govern a felling at the pleasure of this mutable lady; however, there is doubtless some regard to be had—‘Nor is’t in vain signs’ fall and rise to note.’The old rules are these: Fell in the decrease, or four days after the conjunction of the two great luminaries; sowe the last quarter of it; or (as Pliny) in the very article of the change, if possible; which hapning (saith he) in the last day of the Winter solstice, that timber will prove immortal. At least should it be from the twentieth to the thirtieth day, according to Columella; Cato, four days after the full, as far better for the growth; nay, Oak in the Summer: but all vimineous trees,silente lunâ, such as Sallows, Birch, Poplar, &c. Vegetius, for ship timber, from the fifteenth to the twenty-fifth, the Moon as before.” In his ‘French Gardener,’ a translation from the French, Evelyn makes a few allusions to the Moon’s influence on gardening and grafting operations, and in hisKalendarium Hortensewe find him acknowledging its supremacy more than once; but he had doubtless begun to lose faith in the scrupulous directions bequeathed by the Romans. In his introduction to the ‘Kalendar’ he says:—“We are yet far from imposing (by any thing we have here alledged concerning these menstrual periods) those nice and hypercritical punctillos which some astrologers, and such as pursue these rules, seem to oblige our gard’ners to; as if forsooth all were lost, and our pains to no purpose, unless the sowing and the planting, the cutting and the pruning, were performed in such and such an exact minute of the Moon:In hac autem ruris disciplina non desideraturejusmodi scrupulositas. [Columella]. There are indeed some certain seasons andsuspecta tempora, which the prudent gard’ner ought carefully (as much as in him lies) to prevent: but as to the rest, let it suffice that he diligently follow the observations which (by great industry) we have collected together, and here present him.”The opinion of John Evelyn, thus expressed, doubtless shook the faith of gardeners in the efficacy of lunar influence on plants, and, as a rule, we find no mention of the Moon in the instructions contained in the gardening books published after his death. It is true that Charles Evelyn, in ‘The Pleasure and Profit of Gardening Improved’ (1717) directs that Stock Gilliflower seeds should be sown at the full of the Moon in April, and makes several other references to the influence of the Moon on these plants; but this is an exception to the general rule, and in ‘The Retired Gardener,’ a translation from the French of Louis Liger, printed in 1717, the ancient belief in the Moon’s supremacy in the plant kingdom received its death-blow. The work referred to was published under the direction of London and Wise, Court Nurserymen to Queen Anne, and in the first portion of it, which is arranged in the form of a conversation between a gentleman and his gardener, occurs the following passage:—Gent.—“I have heard several old gardeners say that vigorous trees ought to be prun’d in the Wane, and those that are more sparing of their shoots in the Increase. Their reason is, that the pruning by no means promotes the fruit if it be not done in the Wane. They add that the reason why some trees are so long before they bear fruit is, because they were planted or grafted either in the Increase or Full of the Moon.”Gard.—“Most of the old gardeners were of that opinion, and there are some who continue still to be misled by the same error. But ’tis certain that they bear no ground for such an imagination, as I have observ’d, having succeeded in my gardening without such a superstitious observation of the Moon. However, I don’t urge this upon my own authority, but refer my self to M. de la Quintinie, who deserves more to be believed than my self. These are his words:—‘I solemnly declare [saith he] that after a diligent observation of the Moon’s changes for thirty years together, and an enquiry whether they had any influence on gardening, the affirmation of which has been so long established among us, I perceiv’d that it was no weightier than old wives’ tales, and that it has been advanc’d by unexperienc’d gardeners.’“And a little after: ‘I have therefore follow’d what appear’d most reasonable, and rejected what was otherwise. In short, graft in what time of the Moon you please, if your graft be good, and grafted in a proper stock, provided you do it like an artist, you will be sure to succeed.... In the same manner [continues he] sow what sorts of grain you please, and plant as you please, in any Quarter of the Moon, I’ll answer for your success; the first and last day of the Moon being equally favourable.’ This is the opinion of a man who must be allow’d to have been the most experienc’d in this age.”Plants of the Moon.The Germans callMondveilchen(Violet of the Moon), theLunaria annua, theLeucoion, also known as the Flower of the Cow, that is to say, of the cow Io, one of the names of the Moon. The old classic legend relates that this daughter of Inachus, because shewas beloved by Jupiter, fell under the jealous displeasure of Juno, and was much persecuted by her. Jupiter therefore changed his beautiful mistress into the cow Io, and at his request, Tellus (the Earth) caused a certain herb (Salutaris, the herb of Isis) to spring up, in order to provide for the metamorphosed nymph suitable nourishment. In the Vedic writings, the Moon is represented as slaying monsters and serpents, and it is curious to note that the Moonwort (Lunaria), Southernwood (Artemisia), and Selenite (fromSelene, a name of the Moon), are all supposed to have the power of repelling serpents. Plutarch, in his work on rivers, tells us that near the river Trachea grew a herb called Selenite, from the foliage of which trickled a frothy liquid with which the herdsmen anointed their feet in the Spring in order to render them impervious to the bites of serpents. This foam, says De Gubernatis, reminds one of the dew which is found in the morning sprinkled over herbs and plants, and which the ancient Greeks regarded as a gift of the nymphs who accompanied the goddess Artemis, or Diana, the lunar deity.Numerous Indian plants are named after the Moon, the principal being theCardamine; theCocculus cordifolius(the Moon’s Laughter); a species ofSolanumcalled the Flower of the Moon; theAsclepias acida, theSomalatâ, the plant that produces Soma; Sandal-wood (beloved of the Moon); Camphor (named after the Moon); theConvolvulus Turpethum, called the Half-Moon; and many other plants named after Soma, a lunar synonym.In a Hindu poem, the Moon is called the fructifier of vegetation and the guardian of the celestial ambrosia, and it is not surprising therefore to find that in India the mystic Moon-tree, the Soma, the tree which produces the divine and immortalising ambrosia is worshipped as the lunar god. Soma, the moon-god, produces the revivifying dew of the early morn;Soma, the Moon-tree, the exhilarating ambrosia. The Moon is cold and humid: it is from her the plants receive their sap, says Prof. De Gubernatis, “and thanks to the Moon that they multiply, and that vegetation prospers. There is nothing very wonderful, therefore, if the movements of the Moon preside in a general way over agricultural operations, and if it exercises a special influence on the health andaccouchementsof women, who are said to represent Water, the humid element. The Roman goddess Lucina (the Moon) presided overaccouchements, and had under her care the Dittany and the Mugwort [or Motherwort] (Artemisia, from Artemis, the lunar goddess), considered, like the VedicSoma, to be the queen or mother of the herbs.”Thus Macer says of it:—“Herbarum matrem justum puto ponere primo;Præcipue morbis muliebribus illa medetur.”This influence of the Moon over the female portion of the human race has led to a class of plants being associated eitherdirectly with the luminary or with the goddesses who were formerly thought to impersonate or embody it. Thus we find theChrysanthemum leucanthemumnamed the Moon Daisy, because its shape resembles the pictures of a full moon, the type of a class of plants which Dr. Prior points out, “on the Doctrine of Signatures, were exhibited in uterine complaints, and dedicated in pagan times to the goddess of the Moon and regulator of monthly periods, Artemis, whom Horsley (on Hosea ix., 10) would identify with Isis, the goddess of the Egyptians, with Juno Lucina, and with Eileithuia, a deity who had special charge over the functions of women—an office in Roman Catholic mythology assigned to Mary Magdalene and Margaret.” The Costmary, or Maudeline-wort (Balsamita vulgaris); the Maghet, or May-weed (Pyrethrum Parthenium); the Mather, or Maydweed (Anthemis Cotula); the Daisy, or Marguerite (Bellis perennis); theAchillea Matricaria, &c., are all plants which come under the category of lunar herbs in their connection with feminine complaints.The Man in the Moon.Chaucer describes the Moon as Lady Cynthia:—“Her gite was gray and full of spottis blake,And on her brest a chorle paintid ful evenBearing a bush of Thornis on his bakeWhich for his theft might climb no ner the heven.”Allusion is here made to the Man in the Moon, bearing a Thorn-bush on his shoulders—one of the most widely-diffused superstitions still extant. It is curious that, in several legends respecting this inhabitant of the Moon, he is represented as having been engaged, when on earth, in gardening operations. Kuhn relates a tradition in the Havel country. One Christmas Eve, a peasant felt a great desire to eat a Cabbage; and, having none himself, he slipped stealthily into his neighbour’s garden to cut some. Just as he had filled his basket, the Christ Child rode past on his white horse, and said: “Because thou hast stolen in the holy night, thou shalt immediately sit in the Moon with thy basket of Cabbage.” At Paderhorn, in Westphalia, the crime committed was not theft, but hindering people from attending church on Easter-Day, by placing a Thorn-bush in the field-gate through which they had to pass. In the neighbourhood of Wittingen, the man is said to have been exiled to the Moon because he tied up his brooms on Maunday Thursday; and at Deilinghofen, of having mown the Grass in his meadows on Sunday. A Swabian mother at Derendingen will tell her child that a man was once working in his vineyard on Sunday, and after having pruned all his Vines, he made a bundle of the shoots he had just cut off, laid it in his basket, and went home. According to one version, the Vine-shoots were stolen from a neighbour’s Vineyard. When taxed either withSabbath-breaking or with the theft, the culprit loudly protested his innocence, and at length exclaimed: “If I have committed this crime, may I be sent to the Moon!” After his death this fate duly befell him, and there he remains to this day. The Black Forest peasants relate that a certain man stole a bundle of wood on Sunday because he thought on that day he should be unmolested by the foresters. However, on leaving the forest, he met a stranger, who was no other than the Almighty himself. After reproving the thief for not keeping the Sabbath-day holy, God said he must be punished, but he might choose whether he would be banished to the Sun or to the Moon. The man chose the latter, declaring he would rather freeze in the Moon than burn in the Sun; and so the Broom-man came into the Moon with his faggot on his back. At Hemer, in Westphalia, the legend runs that a man was engaged in fencing his garden on Good Friday, and had just poised a bundle of Thorns on his fork when he was at once transported to the Moon. Some of the Hemer peasants, however, declare that the Moon is not only inhabited by a man with a Thorn-bush and pitchfork, but also by his wife, who is churning, and was exiled to the Moon for using a churn on Sunday. According to other traditions, the figure in the Moon is that of Isaac bearing the faggot on his shoulders for his own sacrifice on Mount Moriah; or Cain with a bundle of Briars; or a tipsy man who for his audacity in threatening the Moon with a Bramble he held in his hand, was drawn up to this planet, and has remained there to the present day.
Twocenturies ago there existed a very general belief that every plant was under the direct influence of a particular Planet, and therefore that all the details connected with its cultivation and utilisation were to be conducted with a strict regard to this supposition. Aubrey has recorded his opinion, that if a plant “be not gathered according to the rules of astrology, it hath little or no virtue in it;” and the Jesuit Rapin, in his Latin poem on ‘Gardens,’ says, with respect to flowers—
“This frequent charge I give, whene’er you sowThe flow’ry kind, be studious first to knowThe monthly tables, and with heedful eyeSurvey the lofty volumes of the sky;Observe the tokens of foreboding Stars,What store of wind and rain the Moon prepares;What weather Eurus or moist Auster blows,What both in east and west the Sun foreshows;What aid from Helice the trees obtain,What from Boötes with his tardy wain;Whether the wat’ry Pleiades with show’rsKindly refresh alone, or drown the flow’rs;For Stars neglected fatal oft we find,The Gods to their dominion have assign’dThe products of our earth and labours of mankind.”
“This frequent charge I give, whene’er you sowThe flow’ry kind, be studious first to knowThe monthly tables, and with heedful eyeSurvey the lofty volumes of the sky;Observe the tokens of foreboding Stars,What store of wind and rain the Moon prepares;What weather Eurus or moist Auster blows,What both in east and west the Sun foreshows;What aid from Helice the trees obtain,What from Boötes with his tardy wain;Whether the wat’ry Pleiades with show’rsKindly refresh alone, or drown the flow’rs;For Stars neglected fatal oft we find,The Gods to their dominion have assign’dThe products of our earth and labours of mankind.”
“This frequent charge I give, whene’er you sow
The flow’ry kind, be studious first to know
The monthly tables, and with heedful eye
Survey the lofty volumes of the sky;
Observe the tokens of foreboding Stars,
What store of wind and rain the Moon prepares;
What weather Eurus or moist Auster blows,
What both in east and west the Sun foreshows;
What aid from Helice the trees obtain,
What from Boötes with his tardy wain;
Whether the wat’ry Pleiades with show’rs
Kindly refresh alone, or drown the flow’rs;
For Stars neglected fatal oft we find,
The Gods to their dominion have assign’d
The products of our earth and labours of mankind.”
Michael Drayton, in whose time the doctrine of planetary influence on plants was generally accepted, says, in reference to the longevity of antediluvian men:—
“Besides, in medicine simples had the powerThat none need then the planetary hourTo helpe their working, they so juiceful were.”
“Besides, in medicine simples had the powerThat none need then the planetary hourTo helpe their working, they so juiceful were.”
“Besides, in medicine simples had the power
That none need then the planetary hour
To helpe their working, they so juiceful were.”
Culpeper, who was a profound believer in astrology, has given at the commencement of his ‘British Herbal and Family Physician,’ a list of some five hundred plants, and the names of the Planets which govern them; and in his directions as to the plucking of leaves for medical purposes, the old herbalist andphysician remarks:—“Such as are astrologers (and indeed none else are fit to make physicians) such I advise: let the planet that governs the herb be angular, and the stronger the better; if they can, in herbs of Saturn, let Saturn be in the ascendant; in the herb of Mars, let Mars be in the mid-heaven, for in those houses they delight; let the Moon apply to them by good aspect, and let her not be in the houses of her enemies; if you cannot well stay till she apply to them, let her apply to a Planet of the same triplicity; if you cannot meet that time neither, let her be with a fixed Star of their nature.”
The classification of Plants under the planets Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Sun, and the Moon, appears to have been made according to the Signatures or outward appearances of the plants themselves. The stalks, stems, branches, roots, foliage, flowers, odour, taste, native places, death, and medical virtues, were also considered; and, according to the character of the plant thus deduced, it was placed under the government of the particular Planet with which it was considered to be most in consonance.
Plants allotted toSaturnhad theirLeaves: hairy, hard, dry, parched, coarse, and of ill-favoured appearance.Flowers: Unprepossessing, gloomy, dull, greenish, faded or dirty white, pale red, invariably hirsute, prickly, and disagreeable.Roots: Spreading widely in the earth and rambling around in discursive fashion.Odour: Fœtid, putrid, muddy.
Jupiter.—Leaves: Smooth, even, slightly cut and pointed, the veins not prominent, and the lines not strongly marked. Colour, greyish blue-green.Flowers: Graceful, pleasing, bright, succulent, transparent, ruddy, flesh-colour, blue, yellow.Roots: Rather small, with short hairy filaments, spread about in the ground.Odour: Highly subtle, grateful to the brain; the kernels comforting; easily fermented.
Mars.—Leaves: Hard, long, somewhat heavy, pointed and pendulous, harsh and hot to the tongue, not of good appearance.Flowers: Of a colour between yellow, vermilion, or blue, green, purple, red, changing quickly, abundance of flowers and seeds.Roots: Highly fibrous and creeping underground.Odour: Oppressive to the brain, potent, sharp, acrid.
Venus.—Leaves: Large, handsome, bright, rich green or roseate, soft, plentiful.Flowers: Pleasing to the eyes, white, blue, rosy, charming, fine, abundant.Roots: Of early growth, but not deeply fixed. Quickly and freely produced.Odour: Subtle, delightful, pungent, refreshing to the brain.
Mercury.—Leaves: Different kinds, but pleasing to the eye.Flowers: Of various descriptions and colours, refreshing, agreeable, and pleasant.Roots: Abiding deep in the earth, and spreading far and wide.Odour: Highly subtle and penetrating, refreshing to the heart and brain.
The Sun.—Leaves: Succulent, with stout stalks, deeply veined, pleasant green or tawny, with reddish stalks.Flowers: Yellow and gold, or purple, handsome, glittering, and radiant.Roots: Strong, deeply fixed in the earth, but not laterally.Odour: Agreeable, acceptable, and pungent, strong, restorative to brain and eyes.
The Moon.—Leaves: Pale, highly succulent, pith thick, firm, strongly-developed veins, bottle-green.Flowers: Pale yellow or greenish, watery, mellifluous, but uninteresting and without beauty.Roots: Penetrating easily through water and earth, not durable, and easily decayed, spreading neither thickly nor deeply.Odour: Disagreeable, almost none, without pungency, redolent of the earth, rain, or soft savour of honey.
According to Indian mythology, herbs are placed under the special protection of Mitra, the Sun. De Gubernatis tells us that there are several Indian plants named after the great luminary. In the Grecian Pantheon, the Solar-god, Apollo, possessed a knowledge of all the herbs. It was to Phœbus, the Sun-god, that poor Clytie lost her heart, and, when changed into a flower, held firmly by the root, she still turned to the Sun she loved, “and, changed herself, still kept her love unchanged.” As to the particular Sunflower, Turnsole, Heliotrope, or Solsequium that is the floral embodiment of the love-sick nymph, readers must be referred to the disquisition under the heading “Sunflower.” De Gubernatis gives it as his opinion, that Clytie’s flower is theHelianthemum roseumof De Candolle. In a previous chapter, certain plants have been noticed which were supposed by the ancients to have been specially under the domination of the Sun and Moon. According to the dictum of wizards and wise folk, plants possessing magical properties must as a general rule be gathered, if not by moonlight, yet at any rate before sunrise, for the first appearance of the Sun’s rays immediately dispels all enchantment, and drives back the spirits to their subterranean abodes.
We are told in Deuteronomy xxxiii., 14, that precious things are put forth by the Moon, but precious fruits by the Sun; and it is certainly very remarkable that, although mankind in all ages have regarded, and even worshipped, the Sun as being the supreme and ruling luminary, from whose glorious life-giving rays, vegetation of all kinds drew its very existence, yet that an idea should have sprung up, and taken root widely and deeply, that the growth and decay of plants were associated intimately with the waxing and waning of the Moon. We have seen how the plant kingdom was parcelled out by the astrologers, and consigned to the care of different Planets; but, despite this, the Moon was held to have a singular and predominant influence over vegetation, and it was supposed that there existed a sympathy between growing and declining nature and the Moon’s wax and wane. Bacon seems to have considered that even the “braine of man waxeth moister and fuller upon the Full of the Moone;” and, therefore, he continues,“it were good for those that have moist braines, and are great drinkers, to take fume of Lignum, Aloes, Rose-Mary, Frankincense, &c., about the Full of the Moone.” He also tells us, in his Natural History, that “the influences of the Moon are four: the drawing forth of heat, the inducing of putrefaction, the moisture, and the exciting of the motions of spirits.”
In respect to this last influence, he goes on to say, “You must note that the growth of hedges, herbs, haire, &c., is caused from the Moone, by exciting of the spirits as well as by increase of the moisture. But for spirits in particular the great instance is lunacies.” This lunar influence which Bacon speaks of was, as already pointed out, fully recognised in olden times, and a belief was even current that the Moon specially watched over vegetation, and that when she was propitious—that is, during her growth—she produced medicinal herbs; when she was not propitious—that is to say, during her wane—she imbued herbs with poisons; her humidity being, perhaps, more injurious than otherwise.
In old almanacks we find the supremacy of the Moon over the plant kingdom fully admitted, albeit in a jargon which is rather puzzling. Thus, in the ‘Husbandman’s Practice or Prognostication for Ever,’ the reader is advised “to set, sow seeds, graft, and plant, the Moone being in Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorne, and all kinds of Corne in Cancer, to graft in March, at the Moone’s increase, she being in Taurus or Capricorne.” Again, in Mr. Wing’s Almanack for 1661, occurs the following passage:—“It is a common observation in astrology, and confirmed by experience, that what Corn or tree soever are set or sown when the Sun or Moon is eclipsed, and the infortunate planets predominate, seldom or never come to good. And again he saith thus:—It is a common and certain observation also, that if any corn, seed, or plant be either set or sown within six hours either before or after the full Moon in Summer, or before or after the new Moon in Winter, having joined with the cosmical rising of Arcturus and Orion, the Hædi and the Siculi, it is subject to blasting and canker.”
As an illustration of the predominance given to the Moon over the other planets in matters pertaining to plant culture, it is worth noticing that, although Culpeper, in his ‘Herbal,’ places the Apple under Venus, yet the Devonshire farmers have from time immemorial made it a rule to gather their Apples for storing at the wane of the Moon; the reason being that, during the Moon’s increase, it is thought that the Apples are full, and will not therefore keep. It is said that if timber be felled when the Moon is on the increase, it will decay; and that it should always be cut when the Moon is on the wane. No reason can be assigned for this; yet the belief is common in many countries, and what is still more strange, professional woodcutters, whose occupation is to fell timber, aver, as the actual result of their observation, that the belief is well founded. It was formerly interwoven in the Forest Codeof France, and, unless expunged by recent alterations, is so still. The same opinion obtains in the German forests, and is said to be held in those of Brazil and Yucatan. The theory given to account for this supposed fact is, that as the Moon grows, the sap rises, and the wood is therefore less dense than when the Moon is waning, because at that time the sap declines. The belief in the Moon’s influence as regards timber extends to vegetables, and was at one time universal in England, although, at the present day, the theory is less generally entertained in our country than abroad, where they act upon the maxim that root crops should be planted when the Moon is decreasing, and plants such as Beans, Peas, and others, which bear the crops on their branches, between new and full Moon. Throughout Germany, the rule is that Rye should be sown as the Moon waxes; but Barley, Wheat, and Peas, when it wanes.
The wax and wane of the belief in lunar influence on plant-life among our own countrymen may be readily traced by reference to old books on husbandry and gardening.
In ‘The Boke of Husbandry,’ by Mayster Fitzherbarde, published in 1523, we read with respect to the sowing of Peas, that “moste generally to begyn sone after Candelmasse is good season, so that they be sowen ere the begynnynge of Marche, or sone upon. And specially let them be sowen in the olde of the Mone. For the opinion of old husbandes is, that they shoulde be better codde, and sooner be rype.”
Tusser, in his ‘Five Hundred Points of Husbandry,’ published in 1562, says, in his quaint verse—
“Sowe Peason and Beans in the wane of the Moone,Who soweth them sooner, he soweth too soone;That they with the planet may rest and rise,And flourish with bearing, most plentiful wise.”
“Sowe Peason and Beans in the wane of the Moone,Who soweth them sooner, he soweth too soone;That they with the planet may rest and rise,And flourish with bearing, most plentiful wise.”
“Sowe Peason and Beans in the wane of the Moone,
Who soweth them sooner, he soweth too soone;
That they with the planet may rest and rise,
And flourish with bearing, most plentiful wise.”
Commenting on that “Point,” the editor of an edition of Tusser’s poem printed in 1744, says: “It must be granted the Moon is an excellent clock, and if not the cause of many surprising accidents, gives a just indication of them, whereof this Pease and Beans may be one instance; for Pease and Beans sown during the increase do run more to hawm or straw, and during the declension more to cod, according to the common consent of countrymen.” Again, as regards grafting, old Tusser writes:—
“In March is good graffing, the skilful do know,So long as the wind in the East do not blow,From Moone being changed, til past be the prime,For graffing and cropping is very good time.”
“In March is good graffing, the skilful do know,So long as the wind in the East do not blow,From Moone being changed, til past be the prime,For graffing and cropping is very good time.”
“In March is good graffing, the skilful do know,
So long as the wind in the East do not blow,
From Moone being changed, til past be the prime,
For graffing and cropping is very good time.”
The editor remarks: “The Prime is the first three days after the New Moon, in which time, or at farthest during the first quarter, our author confines his graffing, probably because thefirst three days are usually attended with rain.” He confesses, however, he cannot explain the following couplet:—
“The Moone in the wane gather fruit for to last,But winter fruit gather when Michel is past.”
“The Moone in the wane gather fruit for to last,But winter fruit gather when Michel is past.”
“The Moone in the wane gather fruit for to last,
But winter fruit gather when Michel is past.”
In the ‘Garden of Eden,’ an old gardening book compiled and issued by Sir Hugh Plat, Knt., in the year 1600, constant allusions are made to the necessity of studying the Moon’s phases in gardening and grafting operations. The worthy knight considered that the Moon would exercise her powers in making single flowers double if only she were respectfully courted. His counsel on this point is as follows:—“Remove a plant of Stock Gilliflowers when it is a little woodded, and not too greene, and water it presently. Doe this three dayes after the full, and remove it twice more before the change. Doe this in barren ground; and likewise, three dayes after the next full Moone, remove again; and then remove once more before the change. Then at the third full Moon, viz., eight dayes after, remove againe, and set it in very rich ground, and this will make it to bring forth a double flower; but if your Stock Gilliflowers once spindle, then you may not remove them. Also you must make Tulippes double in this manner. Some think by cutting them at every full Moone before they beare to make them at length to beare double.”
In ‘The Countryman’s Recreation’ (1640) the author fully recognises the obligation of gardeners to study the Moon in all their principal operations. Says he: “From the first day of the new Moone unto the xiii. day thereof is good for to plant, or graffe, or sow, and for great need some doe take unto the xvii. or xviii. day thereof, and not after, neither graffe nor sow, but as is afore-mentioned, a day or two afore the change, the best signes are Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorne.” And as regards the treatment of fruit trees, he tells us that “trees which come of Nuttes” should be set in the Autumn “in the change or increase of the Moone;” certain grafting manipulations are to be executed “in the increase of the Moone and not lightly after;” fruit, if it is desired of good colour and untouched by frost, ought to be gathered “when the time is faire and dry, and the Moone in her decreasing;” whilst “if ye will cut or gather Grapes, to have them good, and to have good wine thereof, ye shall cut them in the full, or soone after the full, of the Moone, when she is in Cancer, in Leo, in Scorpio, and in Aquarius, the Moone being on the waine and under the earth.”
In ‘The Expert Gardener’ (1640)—a work stated to be “faithfully collected out of sundry Dutch and French authors”—a chapter is entirely devoted to the times and seasons which should be selected “to sow and replant all manner of seeds,” with special reference to the phases of the Moon. As showing how verygeneral must have been the belief in the influence of the Moon on vegetation at that time, the following extract is given:—
A short Instruction very profitable and necessary for all those that delight in Gardening, to know the Times and Seasons when it is good to sow and replant all manner of Seeds.Cabbages must be sowne in February, March, or April, at the waning of the Moone, and replanted also in the decrease thereof.Cabbage Lettuce, in February, March, or July, in an old Moone.Onions and Leeks must be sowne in February or March, at the waning of the Moone.Beets must be sowne in February or March, in a full Moone.Coleworts white and greene in February, or March, in an old Moone, it is good to replant them.Parsneps must be sowne in February, April, or June, also in an old Moone.Radish must be sowne in February, March, or June, in a new Moone.Pompions must be sowne in February, March, or June, also in a new Moone.Cucumbers and Mellons must be sowne in February, March, or June, in an old Moone.Spinage must be sowne in February or March, in an old Moone.Parsley must be sowne in February or March, in a full Moone.Fennel and Annisseed must be sowne in February or March, in a full Moone.White Cycory must be sowne in February, March, July, or August, in a full Moone.Carduus Benedictus must be sowne in February, March, or May, when the Moone is old.Basil must be sowne in March, when the Moone is old.Purslane must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone.Margeram, Violets, and Time must be sowne in February, March, or April, in a new Moone.Floure-gentle, Rosemary, and Lavender, must be sowne in February or April, in a new Moone.Rocket and Garden Cresses must be sowne in February, in a new Moone.Savell must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone.Saffron must be sowne in March, when the Moone is old.Coriander and Borage must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone.Hartshorne and Samphire must be sowne in February, March, or April, when the Moone is old.Gilly-floures, Harts-ease, and Wall-floures, must be sowne in March or April, when the Moone is old.Cardons and Artochokes must be sowne in April or March, when the Moone is old.Chickweed must be sowne inFebruary or March, in the full of the Moone.Burnet must be sowne in February or March, when the Moone is old.Double Marigolds must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone.Isop and Savorie must be sowne in March when the Moone is old.White Poppey must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone.Palma Christi must be sowne in February, in a new Moone.Sparages and Sperage is to be sowne in February, when the Moone is old.Larks-foot must be sowne in February, when the Moone is old.Note that at all times and seasons, Lettuce, Raddish, Spinage and Parsneps may be sowne.Note, also, from cold are to be kept Coleworts, Cabbage, Lettuce, Basill, Cardons, Artochokes, and Colefloures.
A short Instruction very profitable and necessary for all those that delight in Gardening, to know the Times and Seasons when it is good to sow and replant all manner of Seeds.
Cabbages must be sowne in February, March, or April, at the waning of the Moone, and replanted also in the decrease thereof.
Cabbage Lettuce, in February, March, or July, in an old Moone.
Onions and Leeks must be sowne in February or March, at the waning of the Moone.
Beets must be sowne in February or March, in a full Moone.
Coleworts white and greene in February, or March, in an old Moone, it is good to replant them.
Parsneps must be sowne in February, April, or June, also in an old Moone.
Radish must be sowne in February, March, or June, in a new Moone.
Pompions must be sowne in February, March, or June, also in a new Moone.
Cucumbers and Mellons must be sowne in February, March, or June, in an old Moone.
Spinage must be sowne in February or March, in an old Moone.
Parsley must be sowne in February or March, in a full Moone.
Fennel and Annisseed must be sowne in February or March, in a full Moone.
White Cycory must be sowne in February, March, July, or August, in a full Moone.
Carduus Benedictus must be sowne in February, March, or May, when the Moone is old.
Basil must be sowne in March, when the Moone is old.
Purslane must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone.
Margeram, Violets, and Time must be sowne in February, March, or April, in a new Moone.
Floure-gentle, Rosemary, and Lavender, must be sowne in February or April, in a new Moone.
Rocket and Garden Cresses must be sowne in February, in a new Moone.
Savell must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone.
Saffron must be sowne in March, when the Moone is old.
Coriander and Borage must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone.
Hartshorne and Samphire must be sowne in February, March, or April, when the Moone is old.
Gilly-floures, Harts-ease, and Wall-floures, must be sowne in March or April, when the Moone is old.
Cardons and Artochokes must be sowne in April or March, when the Moone is old.
Chickweed must be sowne inFebruary or March, in the full of the Moone.
Burnet must be sowne in February or March, when the Moone is old.
Double Marigolds must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone.
Isop and Savorie must be sowne in March when the Moone is old.
White Poppey must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone.
Palma Christi must be sowne in February, in a new Moone.
Sparages and Sperage is to be sowne in February, when the Moone is old.
Larks-foot must be sowne in February, when the Moone is old.
Note that at all times and seasons, Lettuce, Raddish, Spinage and Parsneps may be sowne.
Note, also, from cold are to be kept Coleworts, Cabbage, Lettuce, Basill, Cardons, Artochokes, and Colefloures.
In ‘The English Gardener’ (1683) and ‘The Dutch Gardener’ (1703) many instructions are given as to the manner of treatingplants with special regard to the phases of the Moon; and Rapin, in his poem on Gardens, has the following lines:—
“If you with flow’rs would stock the pregnant earth,Mark well the Moon propitious to their birth:For earth the silent midnight queen obeys,And waits her course, who, clad in silver rays,Th’ eternal round of times and seasons guides,Controls the air, and o’er the winds presides.Four days expir’d you have your time to sow,Till to the full th’ increasing Moon shall grow;This past, your labour you in vain bestow:Nor let the gard’ner dare to plant a flow’rWhile on his work the heav’ns ill-boding low’r;When Moons forbid, forbidding Moons obey,And hasten when the Stars inviting beams display.”
“If you with flow’rs would stock the pregnant earth,Mark well the Moon propitious to their birth:For earth the silent midnight queen obeys,And waits her course, who, clad in silver rays,Th’ eternal round of times and seasons guides,Controls the air, and o’er the winds presides.Four days expir’d you have your time to sow,Till to the full th’ increasing Moon shall grow;This past, your labour you in vain bestow:Nor let the gard’ner dare to plant a flow’rWhile on his work the heav’ns ill-boding low’r;When Moons forbid, forbidding Moons obey,And hasten when the Stars inviting beams display.”
“If you with flow’rs would stock the pregnant earth,
Mark well the Moon propitious to their birth:
For earth the silent midnight queen obeys,
And waits her course, who, clad in silver rays,
Th’ eternal round of times and seasons guides,
Controls the air, and o’er the winds presides.
Four days expir’d you have your time to sow,
Till to the full th’ increasing Moon shall grow;
This past, your labour you in vain bestow:
Nor let the gard’ner dare to plant a flow’r
While on his work the heav’ns ill-boding low’r;
When Moons forbid, forbidding Moons obey,
And hasten when the Stars inviting beams display.”
John Evelyn, in his ‘Sylva, or a Discourse on Forest Trees,’ first published in 1662, remarks on the attention paid by woodmen to the Moon’s influence on trees. He says: “Then for the age of the Moon, it has religiously been observed; and that Diana’s presidencyin sylviswas not so much celebrated to credit the fictions of the poets, as for the dominion of that moist planet and her influence over timber. For my part, I am not so much inclined to these criticisms, that I should altogether govern a felling at the pleasure of this mutable lady; however, there is doubtless some regard to be had—
‘Nor is’t in vain signs’ fall and rise to note.’
‘Nor is’t in vain signs’ fall and rise to note.’
The old rules are these: Fell in the decrease, or four days after the conjunction of the two great luminaries; sowe the last quarter of it; or (as Pliny) in the very article of the change, if possible; which hapning (saith he) in the last day of the Winter solstice, that timber will prove immortal. At least should it be from the twentieth to the thirtieth day, according to Columella; Cato, four days after the full, as far better for the growth; nay, Oak in the Summer: but all vimineous trees,silente lunâ, such as Sallows, Birch, Poplar, &c. Vegetius, for ship timber, from the fifteenth to the twenty-fifth, the Moon as before.” In his ‘French Gardener,’ a translation from the French, Evelyn makes a few allusions to the Moon’s influence on gardening and grafting operations, and in hisKalendarium Hortensewe find him acknowledging its supremacy more than once; but he had doubtless begun to lose faith in the scrupulous directions bequeathed by the Romans. In his introduction to the ‘Kalendar’ he says:—“We are yet far from imposing (by any thing we have here alledged concerning these menstrual periods) those nice and hypercritical punctillos which some astrologers, and such as pursue these rules, seem to oblige our gard’ners to; as if forsooth all were lost, and our pains to no purpose, unless the sowing and the planting, the cutting and the pruning, were performed in such and such an exact minute of the Moon:In hac autem ruris disciplina non desideraturejusmodi scrupulositas. [Columella]. There are indeed some certain seasons andsuspecta tempora, which the prudent gard’ner ought carefully (as much as in him lies) to prevent: but as to the rest, let it suffice that he diligently follow the observations which (by great industry) we have collected together, and here present him.”
The opinion of John Evelyn, thus expressed, doubtless shook the faith of gardeners in the efficacy of lunar influence on plants, and, as a rule, we find no mention of the Moon in the instructions contained in the gardening books published after his death. It is true that Charles Evelyn, in ‘The Pleasure and Profit of Gardening Improved’ (1717) directs that Stock Gilliflower seeds should be sown at the full of the Moon in April, and makes several other references to the influence of the Moon on these plants; but this is an exception to the general rule, and in ‘The Retired Gardener,’ a translation from the French of Louis Liger, printed in 1717, the ancient belief in the Moon’s supremacy in the plant kingdom received its death-blow. The work referred to was published under the direction of London and Wise, Court Nurserymen to Queen Anne, and in the first portion of it, which is arranged in the form of a conversation between a gentleman and his gardener, occurs the following passage:—
Gent.—“I have heard several old gardeners say that vigorous trees ought to be prun’d in the Wane, and those that are more sparing of their shoots in the Increase. Their reason is, that the pruning by no means promotes the fruit if it be not done in the Wane. They add that the reason why some trees are so long before they bear fruit is, because they were planted or grafted either in the Increase or Full of the Moon.”Gard.—“Most of the old gardeners were of that opinion, and there are some who continue still to be misled by the same error. But ’tis certain that they bear no ground for such an imagination, as I have observ’d, having succeeded in my gardening without such a superstitious observation of the Moon. However, I don’t urge this upon my own authority, but refer my self to M. de la Quintinie, who deserves more to be believed than my self. These are his words:—‘I solemnly declare [saith he] that after a diligent observation of the Moon’s changes for thirty years together, and an enquiry whether they had any influence on gardening, the affirmation of which has been so long established among us, I perceiv’d that it was no weightier than old wives’ tales, and that it has been advanc’d by unexperienc’d gardeners.’“And a little after: ‘I have therefore follow’d what appear’d most reasonable, and rejected what was otherwise. In short, graft in what time of the Moon you please, if your graft be good, and grafted in a proper stock, provided you do it like an artist, you will be sure to succeed.... In the same manner [continues he] sow what sorts of grain you please, and plant as you please, in any Quarter of the Moon, I’ll answer for your success; the first and last day of the Moon being equally favourable.’ This is the opinion of a man who must be allow’d to have been the most experienc’d in this age.”
Gent.—“I have heard several old gardeners say that vigorous trees ought to be prun’d in the Wane, and those that are more sparing of their shoots in the Increase. Their reason is, that the pruning by no means promotes the fruit if it be not done in the Wane. They add that the reason why some trees are so long before they bear fruit is, because they were planted or grafted either in the Increase or Full of the Moon.”
Gard.—“Most of the old gardeners were of that opinion, and there are some who continue still to be misled by the same error. But ’tis certain that they bear no ground for such an imagination, as I have observ’d, having succeeded in my gardening without such a superstitious observation of the Moon. However, I don’t urge this upon my own authority, but refer my self to M. de la Quintinie, who deserves more to be believed than my self. These are his words:—
‘I solemnly declare [saith he] that after a diligent observation of the Moon’s changes for thirty years together, and an enquiry whether they had any influence on gardening, the affirmation of which has been so long established among us, I perceiv’d that it was no weightier than old wives’ tales, and that it has been advanc’d by unexperienc’d gardeners.’
“And a little after: ‘I have therefore follow’d what appear’d most reasonable, and rejected what was otherwise. In short, graft in what time of the Moon you please, if your graft be good, and grafted in a proper stock, provided you do it like an artist, you will be sure to succeed.... In the same manner [continues he] sow what sorts of grain you please, and plant as you please, in any Quarter of the Moon, I’ll answer for your success; the first and last day of the Moon being equally favourable.’ This is the opinion of a man who must be allow’d to have been the most experienc’d in this age.”
The Germans callMondveilchen(Violet of the Moon), theLunaria annua, theLeucoion, also known as the Flower of the Cow, that is to say, of the cow Io, one of the names of the Moon. The old classic legend relates that this daughter of Inachus, because shewas beloved by Jupiter, fell under the jealous displeasure of Juno, and was much persecuted by her. Jupiter therefore changed his beautiful mistress into the cow Io, and at his request, Tellus (the Earth) caused a certain herb (Salutaris, the herb of Isis) to spring up, in order to provide for the metamorphosed nymph suitable nourishment. In the Vedic writings, the Moon is represented as slaying monsters and serpents, and it is curious to note that the Moonwort (Lunaria), Southernwood (Artemisia), and Selenite (fromSelene, a name of the Moon), are all supposed to have the power of repelling serpents. Plutarch, in his work on rivers, tells us that near the river Trachea grew a herb called Selenite, from the foliage of which trickled a frothy liquid with which the herdsmen anointed their feet in the Spring in order to render them impervious to the bites of serpents. This foam, says De Gubernatis, reminds one of the dew which is found in the morning sprinkled over herbs and plants, and which the ancient Greeks regarded as a gift of the nymphs who accompanied the goddess Artemis, or Diana, the lunar deity.
Numerous Indian plants are named after the Moon, the principal being theCardamine; theCocculus cordifolius(the Moon’s Laughter); a species ofSolanumcalled the Flower of the Moon; theAsclepias acida, theSomalatâ, the plant that produces Soma; Sandal-wood (beloved of the Moon); Camphor (named after the Moon); theConvolvulus Turpethum, called the Half-Moon; and many other plants named after Soma, a lunar synonym.
In a Hindu poem, the Moon is called the fructifier of vegetation and the guardian of the celestial ambrosia, and it is not surprising therefore to find that in India the mystic Moon-tree, the Soma, the tree which produces the divine and immortalising ambrosia is worshipped as the lunar god. Soma, the moon-god, produces the revivifying dew of the early morn;Soma, the Moon-tree, the exhilarating ambrosia. The Moon is cold and humid: it is from her the plants receive their sap, says Prof. De Gubernatis, “and thanks to the Moon that they multiply, and that vegetation prospers. There is nothing very wonderful, therefore, if the movements of the Moon preside in a general way over agricultural operations, and if it exercises a special influence on the health andaccouchementsof women, who are said to represent Water, the humid element. The Roman goddess Lucina (the Moon) presided overaccouchements, and had under her care the Dittany and the Mugwort [or Motherwort] (Artemisia, from Artemis, the lunar goddess), considered, like the VedicSoma, to be the queen or mother of the herbs.”
Thus Macer says of it:—
“Herbarum matrem justum puto ponere primo;Præcipue morbis muliebribus illa medetur.”
“Herbarum matrem justum puto ponere primo;Præcipue morbis muliebribus illa medetur.”
“Herbarum matrem justum puto ponere primo;
Præcipue morbis muliebribus illa medetur.”
This influence of the Moon over the female portion of the human race has led to a class of plants being associated eitherdirectly with the luminary or with the goddesses who were formerly thought to impersonate or embody it. Thus we find theChrysanthemum leucanthemumnamed the Moon Daisy, because its shape resembles the pictures of a full moon, the type of a class of plants which Dr. Prior points out, “on the Doctrine of Signatures, were exhibited in uterine complaints, and dedicated in pagan times to the goddess of the Moon and regulator of monthly periods, Artemis, whom Horsley (on Hosea ix., 10) would identify with Isis, the goddess of the Egyptians, with Juno Lucina, and with Eileithuia, a deity who had special charge over the functions of women—an office in Roman Catholic mythology assigned to Mary Magdalene and Margaret.” The Costmary, or Maudeline-wort (Balsamita vulgaris); the Maghet, or May-weed (Pyrethrum Parthenium); the Mather, or Maydweed (Anthemis Cotula); the Daisy, or Marguerite (Bellis perennis); theAchillea Matricaria, &c., are all plants which come under the category of lunar herbs in their connection with feminine complaints.
Chaucer describes the Moon as Lady Cynthia:—
“Her gite was gray and full of spottis blake,And on her brest a chorle paintid ful evenBearing a bush of Thornis on his bakeWhich for his theft might climb no ner the heven.”
“Her gite was gray and full of spottis blake,And on her brest a chorle paintid ful evenBearing a bush of Thornis on his bakeWhich for his theft might climb no ner the heven.”
“Her gite was gray and full of spottis blake,
And on her brest a chorle paintid ful even
Bearing a bush of Thornis on his bake
Which for his theft might climb no ner the heven.”
Allusion is here made to the Man in the Moon, bearing a Thorn-bush on his shoulders—one of the most widely-diffused superstitions still extant. It is curious that, in several legends respecting this inhabitant of the Moon, he is represented as having been engaged, when on earth, in gardening operations. Kuhn relates a tradition in the Havel country. One Christmas Eve, a peasant felt a great desire to eat a Cabbage; and, having none himself, he slipped stealthily into his neighbour’s garden to cut some. Just as he had filled his basket, the Christ Child rode past on his white horse, and said: “Because thou hast stolen in the holy night, thou shalt immediately sit in the Moon with thy basket of Cabbage.” At Paderhorn, in Westphalia, the crime committed was not theft, but hindering people from attending church on Easter-Day, by placing a Thorn-bush in the field-gate through which they had to pass. In the neighbourhood of Wittingen, the man is said to have been exiled to the Moon because he tied up his brooms on Maunday Thursday; and at Deilinghofen, of having mown the Grass in his meadows on Sunday. A Swabian mother at Derendingen will tell her child that a man was once working in his vineyard on Sunday, and after having pruned all his Vines, he made a bundle of the shoots he had just cut off, laid it in his basket, and went home. According to one version, the Vine-shoots were stolen from a neighbour’s Vineyard. When taxed either withSabbath-breaking or with the theft, the culprit loudly protested his innocence, and at length exclaimed: “If I have committed this crime, may I be sent to the Moon!” After his death this fate duly befell him, and there he remains to this day. The Black Forest peasants relate that a certain man stole a bundle of wood on Sunday because he thought on that day he should be unmolested by the foresters. However, on leaving the forest, he met a stranger, who was no other than the Almighty himself. After reproving the thief for not keeping the Sabbath-day holy, God said he must be punished, but he might choose whether he would be banished to the Sun or to the Moon. The man chose the latter, declaring he would rather freeze in the Moon than burn in the Sun; and so the Broom-man came into the Moon with his faggot on his back. At Hemer, in Westphalia, the legend runs that a man was engaged in fencing his garden on Good Friday, and had just poised a bundle of Thorns on his fork when he was at once transported to the Moon. Some of the Hemer peasants, however, declare that the Moon is not only inhabited by a man with a Thorn-bush and pitchfork, but also by his wife, who is churning, and was exiled to the Moon for using a churn on Sunday. According to other traditions, the figure in the Moon is that of Isaac bearing the faggot on his shoulders for his own sacrifice on Mount Moriah; or Cain with a bundle of Briars; or a tipsy man who for his audacity in threatening the Moon with a Bramble he held in his hand, was drawn up to this planet, and has remained there to the present day.